


Sleepless Nights [PART 1]

by HyperDust



Series: Stress [1]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Depression, F/M, Friendship/Love, Loss of Limbs, Love Confessions, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-06-05 09:53:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 18,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6700141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperDust/pseuds/HyperDust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick and Judy love each other. Now that they're in a relationship, will an injury be serious enough to tear them apart, or pull them even closer?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

  "You know you love me."

  The words were out before he could even think of what he was saying to her. They were on their first mission together after the Nighthowler incident, and that was to catch a speeder. Nick hadn't really payed attention while Bogo had given them the mission, he was too busy thinking about other things.

  "Do I know that?"

  Nick's smile faded. He made things weird, or so he thought, with Judy, his bunny-cop friend whom he was assigned to. She looked over to him after staring out of the windshield for a full second and smiled.

  "Yes. Yes I do."

  The fox's smile returned, now being a dumb grin. _Thank goodness, she didn't catch on,_ he thought.

  _ROOOOOOOOOooooow_

  "That's our guy!" Judy happily exclaimed, as Nick flipped the switch to the police light.


	2. Texting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick gets home from a long day and Judy texts him, which leads to an awkward conversation.

  Nick had just arrived at home from a long day at the precinct and flopped on his bed. His home was surprisingly ok, most people who knew him would be surprised by how clean it was, too. It was small, but he lived alone, so it was perfect and cozy. It wasn't even an apartment, so he had no one bothering him, and it was in a nice part of town. He had initially gotten the house and payed for it with the money he got from selling pawpsicles, which was a lot, but now he had a well paying job that got him by on rent. Sure, he didn't make as much as he did with swindling, but it was still enough.

  He looked over to the clock on the computer desk next to his bed. 10:37. _Man, I'm tired,_ He thought. He was dozing off, thinking about the extremely long day he just had, when his butt vibrated. He took out his phone and his eyes lit up. "Judy?" He said. He opened up the message.

* * *

 

JUDY- Hey, Nick.

  NICK- Hey, Carrots. What's up.

JUDY- I couldn't sleep so I came to talk to you.

 

* * *

   Nick didn't like hearing this, she seemed troubled about something.

* * *

 

  NICK- What's wrong? Did you want to talk about it? I'd be happy to help you, Carrots.

JUDY- No, I just needed some comforting is all.

  NICK- Why me, then? Why not your BF or something?

JUDY- **_typing_**

 

* * *

   Nick started getting anxious, Judy was typing a long time.

* * *

  

JUDY- I'm single.

 

* * *

   He got really happy for some reason, he hadn't known she was single.

* * *

 

  NICK- Oh

  NICK- I didn't know that.

JUDY- We're partners at the ZPD! How didn't you know that?

  NICK- I thought it would be rude to ask.

JUDY- Now that you mention it, it would be a weird question. 

  NICK- Well at least I know now.

JUDY- Ok...

JUDY- Well, I can sort of talk about it. I've been having nightmares.

  NICK- Well, what are they about?

JUDY- Well, that, I can't tell you. It's sort of... personal.

  NICK- Ok, well, how am I supposed to help you?

JUDY- I need to know how to ask someone out...

  NICK- Oh.

 

* * *

   With that, all of his hope was gone. Nick pelt a twinge of pain in his chest, she already liked someone else and he had missed his chance.

* * *

 

  NICK- Just act normal, maybe try to hang out with them for a while, get to know them, see what they like to do. Learn their likes and dislikes, most importantly. Just make sure to pop the question when it feels right, don't push it out too quickly, but don't take too long. You'll be able to tell when you've taken too long, and it won't feel good.

 

* * *

  (Nick could tell he had taken too long, and it was tearing up his heart.)

* * *

 

  NICK- Just - It'll feel natural. I wouldn't know much more than getting to ask them out, though, I've never been in a relationship before. If you need dating advice, talk to Clawhauser, I heard he's a real expert on this sort of thing.

JUDY- Thank you, Nick, this helps. Though I didn't know you've never been in a relationship.

  NICK- Never found the time, out of all the vixens I've ever known, none of them are my type.

JUDY- Alright, well thanks for the help. I have to go to bed, I'll see you at the ZPD tomorrow. Bye.

  NICK- Hey Judy

JUDY- What is it?

  NICK- I l

 

* * *

   -Nick hesitated-

* * *

  

  NICK- I'll see you tomorrow too. Goodnight.

  JUDY- Goodnight.

**-Judy is offline-**

 

* * *

 

  Nick locked his phone and put it on his desk, lied back on his bed and sighed. "God, I'm in love with a bunny. But, she doesn't love me back..." He thought out loud.

  His eyes started to water. Nick wasn't known for crying, but Judy had gotten to him and he couldn't help showing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is being uploaded right after the Prologue, because I held onto them until they were both done. Leave a comment telling me what you think, I could use some ideas if you have any.
> 
> I like this chapter, it showed me how much my mind changes in 30 seconds. I pasted it in, looked it over, added 15 lines of text and probably edited the entire rest of it.


	3. In Early

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy hears Nick is in early, so she rushes to the precinct.

_'I won't give up, no I won't give in~, 'Til I reach the end and then I'll start again~'_

  Judy peeled her face off her pillow and reached for her alarm, sitting on the windowsill near her bed. It was 3:30 now, which was extremely early in the morning, especially today. She couldn't sleep the night before, she had been having nightmares, particularly of her partner,   Nick. She had woken up twice during the night, both from bad dreams, and she hadn't gone back to bed after the third time.

  She needed to get this off her chest, to tell him how she felt. It was eating her up inside, and she couldn't sleep, not knowing his feelings for her, or if he even had feelings for her. All her nightmares had pertained to her getting rejected by him, or their friendship being thrown down the drain over a serious argument.

  Judy pulled herself into a sitting position on the side of her bed and rubbed her eyes. She looked at her phone, and saw she had a message. She saw it was from Clawhauser, and it said Nick was in way early. Judy frowned. This wasn't normal, something was wrong. She quickly got up and got ready for work. She needed to see it for herself. As she was going for the door, she stopped. _Why did Clawhauser tell_ me _?,_ she thought. Oh well, that didn't matter. She rushed out to her car, and drove, rather quickly, to the precinct.

* * *

   _ **34 minutes later, at the precinct**_

* * *

  Judy hopped out of her car and moved to the entrance to the precinct. Clawhauser was right, Nick was here, which he usually wasn't until almost 5:00, when their day started. Judy looked at her watch. _4:04, darn, I'm early, too,_ she thought. Usually the majority of officers got to work at 4:30, so there weren't a lot of animals here right now. Nick was in the break room, where she could see him through the doorway. She walked over and knocked on the open door.

  "Who is it?" Nick called jokingly. He turned, with a big smile on his face, but it quickly faded as he saw Judy. "Judy? What are you doing here so early?"

  "I should ask you that question," she replied, "You're usually here right on time, but now you're here an hour and a half _EARLY_?"

  Nick awkwardly rubbed the fur on his neck, putting his weight on one leg and stuffing his other paw in his pocket. "Well, y'know, I uh... don't have much to do at home, but I woke up early." Nick frowned, this was a lie, he knew, but he couldn't tell her he couldn't sleep. She'd get worried about him, and sooner or later she'd learn why he couldn't sleep. It was, of course, his having nightmares about Judy.

  Judy cocked an eyebrow. She could tell he was lying, he was hiding something from her. "How did you wake up early? Not only do you barely wake up on time, but I kept you up..." Judy trailed off, realization hitting her like a slap to the face. "Were you kept up... WORRYING about me?" she asked.

  Nick's eyes widened, This was precisely the reason he was kept up, but he couldn't tell her. It had the possibility of ruining their friendship. "N-no, I just- I had a really good night's sleep. That's all," he replied, a little too quickly.

* * *

    ** _8 hours later, patrolling Zootopia_**

* * *

 

  Nick and Judy had been patrolling all day, and still, nothing had happened for the entirety of said day. There was silence in the cruiser, neither of them had spoken the entire time. It was Nick to break the silence.

  "Hey, Carrots~," he started with a smile, "what do you call a bear with no teeth?"

  Judy sighed and shook her head, a smile forming on her previously bored face. "I don't know Nick, what _DO_ you call a bear with no teeth?"

  Nick smiled cockily before replying, "a _GUMMY BEAR_."

  Judy's smile turned into a big grin, as she attempted to hold back a laugh. "- _SNRK_ \- Are you serious, Nick? _That's_  what you use to break the silence?"

  "Well, it couldn't have gone better, I'd say," he snarkily replied.

  The next few hours was comprised of the two making stupid jokes up for each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3 things I'd really like to hear about: 1. Do I give enough information for each chapter? 2. Are the chapter endings any good, should I change the way I end them? 3. How quickly should I go with the story? Should I spread the story out into lots of chapters, or should I just mash a bunch of info into each chapter? I know this is a stupid question, I'm sure it will lean towards the former, but I would like your guys' opinion.
> 
> One more thing: This story will not be this slow forever- so don't worry. It'll get more exciting.
> 
> Hope you liked the chapter!


	4. "Who is it?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick asks Judy who she needed help asking out for.

**4:40 PM, outside the precinct, just getting back from patrol**

* * *

 

  " _Hehe-_ Nick, please stop _-SNRK-haha-_ we're at work now! We have to act _TSS_ -serious!" Judy struggled to get out on the way to Clawhauser's desk. She had stopped joking long before, mostly because she couldn't get them out without laughing too hard. Nick's bad joke skills packed a punch, and her sore stomach was really feeling it.

  Like she asked, he did stop, and they made their way over to Clawhauser's desk and looked up at him, only to find him with the biggest smile on his face, staring at the two, covering as much of his smile he could- which wasn't a lot.

  "Hey Clawhauser, you look happy. What's up?" Nick said.

  Clawhauser quickly composed himself, his smile melting away instantly. He leaned on his elbows, the way he usually did, and replied.

  "Oh, nothing much. Just watched- just remembered something really cu- **FUNNY**. How's it going with you two? Catch any criminals?"

  "No..." Judy responded. " Today was a slow one. Nothing worth mentioning."

  "What were you two so giggly about, just then?" Clawhauser asked with a smirk.

  Judy blushed, but she didn't know why. "Well, um..."

  "Oh, you don't have to tell me, sweetie. I can see it in your face," he said.

  "Hey, Carrots! Come on!" Nick called. He was halfway to their office, which they had gotten the day they were assigned partners.

  "Sorry, Clawhauser, we can talk about it later, gotta go, bye!" Judy quickly said, as she turned and moved to Nick.

  "Alright, see you later, Hopps!" he called to her.

* * *

  **5:00, on their way out**

* * *

  "So, uh... hey Carrots?" Nick said, on the way to her car (he got rides by her, he saved all his money for rent and food, and never bothered to get his own car).

  "What's up, Nick?" she happily replied.

  "I had completely forgotten to ask, who was it you needed help asking out?"

  Judy stopped dead in her tracks. This was something she hadn't thought of while getting advice from him.

  "What are you talking about?" she said with a frown. _This isn't going to go well for me, is it?_ she asked herself.

  "Well, you remember when you texted me last night? You asked for help on asking someone out, I just thought that if I knew who it was, I could maybe elaborate some of the details, maybe make it easier for you."

  "Don't worry about it, Nick. I'm sure the advice you gave me will help plenty," she stated, trying for a smile, but instead making a weird sort of stretched-lipped face.

  "Well, can I just know, anyways? It wouldn't hurt to tell your best friend who you're crushing on, I mean- I can keep it a secret, if you need me to," he stated nervously. He was prying, he knew, but he just needed to know. They were at the car now, so they got in to continue the conversation. Judy got extremely uncomfortable as she settled into the driver's side.

  "Uh... I don't... Um- I just need a moment," she stuttered, looking away.

  "It's OK if you don't want to tell me, Carrots, if it's really that personal," he said.

  "O-OK... um... I'll just... drive..." she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, a blush starting to form on her face. 'Oh man, this is NOT going well.' she thought.

  And silence ensued, for the entire ride to Nick's house.

* * *

  **5:12, outside Nick's house, in Judy's car**

* * *

 

  "So, uh... sorry for making things awkward, I didn't know it'd bother you that much, Carrots," Nick said, getting out of the car.

  "It's alright, Nick'" she replied.

  "I should make it up to you, how about you and I get dinner together, tomorrow?" Nick offered.

  If Judy could see herself right now, even she'd laugh at herself for how hard she was blushing. "Y-you m-m-mean, like a d-date?" She stuttered.

  It was Nick's turn to blush. "N-no, of course not, just to make it up to you. I can take you to a restaurant and pay for your food. Y'know, like a thing friends do for each other to make up for mistakes. Paying for each other's food."

  "Oh, okay... well, how do you want to do it?" she asked.

  "Well, I know this great place just down the street from here, so maybe you can drive here when you're ready, and we can go for a walk down to the place," Nick wished he could strangle himself, this was sounding more and more like a date.

  "OK, maybe around 2:00?" It was a Saturday tomorrow, and they were both in the group of officers who actually had the weekends off.

  "Sure, I'll make sure I'm ready by then. See you later, Carrots!" He said as he stood up and waved.

  "Bye, Nick." Judy couldn't believe she agreed, but she was happy she did.   _Maybe this would be the "right time" Nick had mentioned..._  she thought to herself as she watched him walk away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I attempted to make a longer chapter, and I'd like to know, Is this a good-sized chapter, or should I make them longer? I'll try to post a new chapter every 2 days, but I'll probably be able to do every day anyways.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed today's chapter!


	5. The (totally not) Date, PART 1/2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick and Judy get ready for a (not actually) date together. Judy comes by early, and asks Nick his opinion on a certain topic.

 

* * *

**10:30 AM, Nick's house**

* * *

  **BEEP--BEEP--BEEP--BEEP--BEE--**

  Nick's paw fell from the alarm as he used it to prop himself up into the sitting position on the side of the bed. As he got ready for the day, he thought back to yesterday, how he had basically asked Judy out for a date. _So, if she gets here at 2:00, that would be too early for dinner, so what will we do until then, I wonder...?_ He thought. He hadn't thought of it until now, so he'd have to come up with something. He looked out the window and saw it was a really nice day out, so they could go for a walk in the park for a while. He thought this would make it even more like a date, but it would have to do.

* * *

**1:00 PM, Judy's apartment**

* * *

   Judy was ready for the thing she had with Nick. Nick had said it definitely wasn't a date, so she didn't know what to call it. Since it wasn't a date, she had guessed it didn't need to be formal, so she was wearing her pink-checked shirt and skinny jeans. When she was completely ready, she decided to call Nick. She pulled out her phone and dialed his number.

  * _brrrrrrrrrrr_ *

  "Hey, Carrots," Nick said as he answered.

  "Hi Nick, I was just calling to make sure the thing wasn't cancelled or anything," she said.

  "No, it's not. Are you all ready?"

  "Yes, actually. Are you ready? Should I come over earlier?"

  "That'd be okay. Just make sure you don't forget anything. Oh, I was thinking since you were going to come over so early, we could..." Nick thought for a moment, "Go for a walk together, maybe to the park or something. Before we go to the restaurant, I mean," he said nervously. He hadn't thought of how weird that sounded until he had to say it.

  "O-oh, okay. Sure. Sounds like a plan," she responded.

  "Alright, then. You can come over whenever, if you're ready."

  "OK. See you in a bit."

  "See ya, Carrots."

  * _click_ *

* * *

**1:24 PM, Nick's house**

* * *

   * **KNOCK KNOCK** *  
  
  Nick was just finishing his coffee when he heard knocking on his door. He got up and went over.

  "Who is it?" he asked.

  "Judy," the person responded.

  "Oh, you're here already?" he said while opening the door.

  "You did say 'come over when you're ready,'" She stated, looking up at him. He opened the door wider, gesturing to her to come in. She had never been over to his house, so as she stepped in, she was immediately surprised by how clean it was. She'd thought he was a slob, or at least didn't like to clean. But his house was, well... normal. It wasn't in a bad neighborhood, either, or really small like she thought it'd be.

  "Uh, wow. This is a nice place you've got," she said as she walked in.

  "What, you thought I was a _slob_?" he said jokingly.

  "Yes, actually."

  "How _nice_ of you, Carrots. Always expecting the worst out of me and all."

  As she walked farther into his house, he followed. They went into the living room and he invited her to sit on the couch.

  As Judy sat, she inhaled deeply, the house smelled like him, and his scent made her blush and her stomach flutter. He sat across from her on the couch, looking at her.

  "So, I was thinking we could go for a walk in the park for an hour or two, then go get dinner. What do you think?" He asked her.

  "Sounds good. Maybe we could watch a movie together after dinner," she said.

  "Uhm... alright. Well, I don't have very many movies, but I do have a few good ones. Sure, we can do that," he said.

  Judy stopped for a moment, before saying, "Hey Nick, what do you think about inter-species relationships?"

  Nick thought about it, before replying, "Well, If you're asking how I feel, I'm not one to state my opinion, although I _LOVE_ to state my opinion. But I wouldn't mind, I mean, I see em' every day. It's not like I wouldn't date out-of-species, I mean, I totally would."

  "Okay. Sorry if that question offended you, I was just curious."

  "Oh, please, Carrots, you couldn't offend me. You mean too much to me for me to hate you," he stated.

  Judy smiled and blushed, she hadn't expected him to feel that way. "You mean a lot to me too, Nick."

  If you looked hard enough, you'd see Nick's fur get redder.

  "Well, we should do something. How about that walk?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, guys, this is only HALF of the (not really) Date chapter. I was in a writer's block for a couple of hours, I still wasn't fully awake after school. I did manage to get a hefty portion done, though. I even cut into my bed time, just for you guys. Here it is! I appreciate constructive criticism, if you've got any. I'm still sorta new to the whole Fan-fiction thing.  
> Also, I've been doing this thing with the area/time in bold with the lines. Should I keep doing that? I feel like it makes it easier to visualize the scene a bit better if you know how much time has passed.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this half chapter!


	6. The (okay maybe it is now) Date, PART 2/2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get pretty spicy between Nick and Judy.

* * *

**1:39 PM, the park**

* * *

  Nick looked over at Judy, who seemed to be enjoying herself so far. They had been walking for about 5 minutes, when Judy stopped.

  "What's up, Carrots?" asked Nick.

  "It's uh... them," she stated, pointing to their left carefully, as if someone was staring and she was trying to point them out. Sure enough, she was, and when Nick looked over, he immediately wanted to strangle the guy.

  The buck Judy had pointed out was obviously staring at the two in disgust, and it didn't take Nick too long to figure out why. He and Judy had been walking together, and the man thought they were in a relationship. Nick knew a lot of animals were still against inter-species relationships, even though they were legal and most animals didn't even mind. Nick turned forward and kept walking.

  "Come on, Judy, just ignore him. He's probably just some weirdo," Nick lied. Judy caught up to them, and they continued walking.

  Or, they would've kept walking, had they not been stopped by a lady gazelle.

  "Hey! You! Bunny girl! Is that _fox_ bothering you?" she said, putting an ugly accent on the word 'fox.'

  "Uh, no, we were just-" Judy began, but was cut off by Nick.

  Now, Nick wasn't one to get mad at others, he liked to call himself a pacifist (although he had been in fights before), but he absolutely **HATED** it when people caused disruptions because of stereotyping, especially stereotyping him. The gazelle was no exception.

  "-Going for a walk, before we were so **-rudely-** interrupted by a stranger yelling at us for no damn reason. _**NOW**_ , if you'll excuse us, we would really like to continue our nice date in the park together," he continued for Judy, in a hostile tone.

  Judy blushed when Nick said 'date.' The lady stood up straight and huffed, walking away quickly. Nick continued walking, acting as if nothing even happened.

  "Nick, when you said ' _date..._ '" Judy started.

  "Did I? Sorry if you didn't want others to think we were dating. I am a _fox_ after all," he said angrily, not looking at her.

  "Nick, you know I don't care you're a fox. We're best friends, I couldn't hate you. And I'm glad you told her we were dating, it probably would've taken a lot longer to move on if you didn't."

  Nick's expression calmed down. He couldn't stay angry at Judy. In truth, he hadn't known why he was so angry at her, it was the lady that set him off.

  " _sigh_... Sorry Carrots, I didn't mean it like that. Let's just keep walking, It's a really nice day out, I don't want to waste it being mad." 

* * *

**4:36 PM, in the restaurant**

* * *

 

  They were sitting at a booth in the corner of the restaurant, 'Omnivorous', and they had just had their order taken. The place served both predator and prey, so it was perfect for them. Judy ordered a bunny-themed salad, and Nick ordered a soup that he couldn't pronounce   the name of, but it had tofu and vegetables in it (Nick was vegan). They were sitting in silence, when Judy tried to start a conversation.

  "So, Nick... why did you get so angry at that lady?" She asked.

  "The gazelle? I hate stereotypes," he answered honestly.

  "Is that it?" she responded.

  "I also hate people who think they can just bother random people for no reason."

  "Nick, were you... offended by what she said?"

  "Of course I was, she thought you were in danger because you were with me."

  "I'm sorry Nick, I just feel like it's my fault..." Judy said as she set her paws on the table.

  "Don't apologize, Carrots. I don't want you to think it's your fault. It's not," Nick said as he put his paw on hers.

  Judy blushed and looked at Nick's emerald eyes as he smiled at her.

  "Nick..."

  "Oh, uh... sorry," he said as he started to move his paw away.

  "It's okay," she said as she softly grabbed his paw back and smiled. The feeling of his fur against hers made her chest tighten and warm up.

  Nick was enjoying the feeling of Judy's tiny paw in his, lightly brushing the fur on the back of it with his thumb.

  "Carrots... _Judy_... I think... I think I like you, a lot," he blurted. Judy's eyes widened in shock.

  "And I know you were going to ask someone else out, that's why I didn't call it a date. And I just wanted you to know that I really like you, and I'm sorry if I just ruined our entire friendship, but I just really needed to tell you. Every day, when I see you, it gets hard to breathe, and when I see you smile, I forget all the bad things and I just try to remember what your smile looks like, and when I see you're sad, all I want to do is comfort you, so I can see you smile again," Nick continued.

  "Judy, I think I _love_ you..." He finished with a worried expression.

  Judy didn't know what to say. All she could think was, _He loves me back?_ "N-Nick, you... Love me?"

  "Y-yes. Yes I do."

  "I l-love you, too..." she said quietly. Nick's face lit up, and he looked at her violet eyes, which were watering.

  "Carrots, are you OK? You're crying," he told her.

  "I- yes I'm okay, I'm just so happy... I didn't know you felt that way, I was so worried," she said with a smile, tears streaming down her face slowly. Nick reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek.

  4:40 PM, outside the restaurant

  As Nick payed for the meal and they made their way out, on the way to Nick's house, Judy and Nick walked closer to each other. Judy wrapped her paw around his, intertwining their fingers and mixing their fur into a reddish-gray that made her heart jump. They held each other like that the entire way to Nick's house.

* * *

**4:54 PM, Nick's house**

* * *

 

  As they walked up to Nick's door, he let go of her paw and pulled out his key. When he unlocked the door, he opened it and took her paw in his again. When they walked in, Nick shut the door behind them.

  "Well... What movie do you want to watch?" Judy asked.

  They walked to the living room and Judy sat on the couch as Nick pulled out a couple of movies. Judy chose a romantic movie about a lion and a tiger who found love together. Once the movie started, Nick turned the lights off and sat next to Judy. Judy moved over to him and held his paw, the fur on their arms pressed together. Nick put an arm around Judy during the movie and Judy blushed.

* * *

**6:13 PM, Nick's house, movie almost over**

* * *

 

  As the tiger and the lion kissed, Judy hugged Nick's arm. He turned to her, and she noticed he looked towards her, so she looked up at him. They were so close, Judy could feel his breath on her muzzle. she blushed, and smiled up at him, prompting him to smile back at her. He leaned down, and the tips of their muzzles touched. He put a paw up to her ear, lightly brushing it. Judy's breathing picked up, and Nick moved his paw down to the side of her jaw. He lifted her head up slightly, and moved in. She didn't hesitate, as their lips touched, she put her other paw on his shoulder opposite from her.  
  
  Their kiss heated up, as she brushed the fur on his neck, he pulled her in even closer, his mouth opening slightly, as she did the same. Their tongues touched, and Judy moaned lightly, pushing herself against him. As her tongue entered his mouth, she felt around his teeth. Just a month ago, she'd be terrified of his teeth, but now, they turned her on. _They're so foreign,_ she thought. She moaned again, and Nick's breathing sped up. He put his paws on her sides, as she sat on his lap, bending her her legs outside his. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her deeper into the kiss, and she did the same, arms around his neck.

  They pulled away from the kiss as Nick went to her neck. He started planting kisses on the back of her jaw, and she moaned a little louder this time. He pressed his fangs into the soft flesh of her neck, sending shivers down her spine. She grabbed his head and pushed him harder onto her neck, moaning softly. He licked and nibbled her neck for a while longer, before stopping to look into her eyes.

  "It's getting kinda late..." he said sadly.

  "Could I... stay the night... maybe?"

  Nick's eyes widened. "Uh... okay... but I only have one bed..."

  "We could sleep together..."

  "Only if you want to," he said.

  "Sure. I'd like that,"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stayed up later than I should've, to bring you this. So, what did you guys think? Did I speed into it too fast, or is it just a fan fiction and I'm overthinking their love? Writing this kind of stuff so early into the fan fiction made me uncomfortable, but I was okay with it. I really like the romance genre, so that's probably why. Also, I was in a rut again, but I started listening to this band, "Red House Painters." Their music really helped me get this stuff done, I'd recommend listening to them if you have trouble writing, especially about a romance.  
> Don't forget, I'm always open for Constructive Criticism!
> 
> Hope you liked the chapter!


	7. Morning, Already?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first 'smut' of the fiction. (SPOILERS no insertion)

* * *

**8:30, the next morning**

* * *

   Judy's eyes popped open. She had heard the garbage truck picking up the cans, bashing them against the walls of the truck's hold. Nick was still fast asleep next to her, in nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms. Judy sat up, the blanket falling away from her and Nick, revealing his bare chest. Judy looked at him, then noticed his stomach. He was surprisingly muscular, despite his lazy personality. Judy lied back down, this time on her side facing Nick. She reached out, carefully placing her paw on his chest. She felt her face heat up as she pushed her fingers through his pale-amber chest fur, dragging her paw from his pecs to his abdomen. She slid closer to him, pressing her body against his and nuzzling the side of his neck, as she wrapped her arm around her side, reaching his shoulders. She pressed her muzzle into his neck, breathing in his scent and covering her face in it.

  Judy felt something poking her on the leg, and lifted the sheets to see what it was. Nick had an erection, and his thin pajama bottoms did nothing to hide it, pressing against her thin leggings. Judy's face heated up even more, her breathing hastened, and she felt the area between her legs heat up as well. _My goodness,_ she thought, _He's so... big._  She dropped the sheets and turned back to him. He was still asleep, but his breathing had gotten faster. Judy smiled, hugging herself against him. She felt his member's warmth press against her leg, and the area between her legs heated up more. She looked up at his face, eyes closed, mouth slightly open. She spotted his fangs, like massive white knives hanging from his jaw. She pushed herself up and placed her lips on his.

  She entered his mouth with her tongue, passing over his teeth. She stopped, left his mouth and put her head back on his neck. _Those teeth, they're so... amazing._  She thought back to the night-howler case, when Nick had to pretend he had turned feral, how his teeth looked as he bared his fangs at her, how she had to suppress a moan when he wrapped his jaw around her tiny neck, lightly squeezing her with his teeth. She felt a wetness in between her legs and moaned now, thinking back to that day. She realized she had been lying here next to Nick's sleeping body for too long, so she decided to wake him up.

  " _Niiiiick_ ~..." she placed her paw on his shoulder and shook him gently. She got a tired groan in response.

  "Nick, wake _uuuuup_ ~..." she sang. Nick cracked his eyes open slightly, looking into her eyes.

  "Judy, it's a _Sunday_... I would like to sleep as if it were a Sunday," he moaned.

  Judy pushed herself up, pushing her mouth to his. Nick was surprised for a second, before sinking into the kiss. They made out for a bit, pressing their tongues together and hugging tightly. Judy pulled away, and Nick pretended to be disappointed, although he really _was_ disappointed.

  "Aww, don't tease me, Carrots, you got me awake. What's up?" he asked.

  "Just wanted to see if you had any plans today," she answered.

  "Well, apart from sleeping, nothing. But I'm sure you asked because you wanted to do something together, so I guess there's that," he replied.

  "I was thinking we could hang out together, go for a walk maybe."

  "Well sure, I could go for a walk with you. When? like in an hour or so?"

  "Yeah, and we could hang out here, afterwards... maybe..." Judy blushed and looked away. Nick just now noticed he had a rock-hard erection and it was poking Judy, so he jumped back, surprising Judy and falling off the bed.

  " ** _OHMYGOD_ I'm SO sorry** ," he blurted before hitting the floor.

  "Oh my gosh, Nick, are you OK?"

  "Yeah, I'm _almost_ fine... sorry about that."

  "It's... It's alright." Judy suddenly smiled, an idea forming in her head. She she slid off the bed and stood over the fox, who was lying on his back, still with a hard on. Judy smirked at Nick, bending her legs and kneeling on top of him.

  "Here, let me help you feel better," she whispered. Nick's eyes widened. _Man, this day..._ **MAN** _this day. This is a good day so far_ , he thought to himself, smiling like an idiot. Judy put her paws on the outside of his chest, propping herself up. she pressed her bottom onto Nick's pelvis, careful to avoid contact with his member. She leaned down and pressed her lips to his, forcing his mouth open and shoving her tongue through his teeth. Feeling his incisors scrape the surface of her tongue made her legs tremble, and she lost balance, ending up pressing into his hard on with her privates. An intense wave of pleasure passed over Judy, making her moan into Nick's mouth loudly.

  Nick was starting to get really hot. He grabbed the sides of Judy's head, pulling her away from him and pressing his jaw into the soft flesh of her neck, scraping his teeth against her fur. Judy started moaning again, this time into the air, as he worked on her neck. He started bringing his teeth lower, every centimeter raking them against Judy's skin and through her fur. He made it to the rim of her t-shirt, and pulled that down as far as he could, pressing his teeth onto her collarbone. Judy couldn't control herself, pressing her groin against his unexposed shaft again, moaning louder. The thin materials that they were wearing let the heat carry from Judy's thighs into Nick's pelvis, heating him up and making his shaft harden even more.

  Judy pushed Nick's head away from her chest, stopping only to look into his emerald green eyes, before saying " _I love you_ ," in a husky voice, and diving back into a kiss. As they kissed Judy ground against his dick, making herself wet and making him grunt into her mouth. Suddenly, he bit down, squeezing her tongue with his teeth, and Judy lost it. She pressed her full weight onto his shaft and moaned louder than ever as he held her tongue in his mouth with his teeth. She stopped moving before collapsing on his chest, worn out from what just happened.

  "I love you too, Judy," he said as she struggled to slow her breathing.

  "Now about the walk..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cuts to me with somehow my entire face flat against a wall* 
> 
> Well, it's done. Sorry this one's super short, I kinda got a late start on writing it, and I wanted to post something before I missed the end of the day deadline. And what better chapter to cut short than the first one with smut! (Not going to lie, I had lots of fun writing this one. It's way easier to write smut when it's between your OTP.) I want to know a couple of things, as always, such as how I did with this whole... thing... and if I did it right, as in... did it go too fast? Or did something happen that didn't seem quite right? And yes, in my head cannon, Judy has a fetish for Nick's sharp teeth (and a really bad one at that). Anyways, Thank you for the support as always, and thank you for actually liking this thing I've done.
> 
> So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.


	8. Dammit Linda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Linda sucks

* * *

**11:12 AM, Judy's apartment**

* * *

 

  Nick walked in behind Judy, surprised by how small her house was. he was expecting it to at least be bigger than his was, but it wasn't even half the size.

  "Whoa. Damn, Carrots, this place is _small_ ," He stated.

  "Well, I didn't have a lot of money when I came here, so it had to be small. I kinda just stuck with it after getting a job though."

  "Well, if you ever think of moving out of here, you can move in with me," he said as Judy got her clothes out of her closet. She smiled and looked back to him.

  "I'll think about it," she said as she pushed him on the chest, towards the door. He left the room and Judy shut the door on him, leaving him alone in the hallway. He leaned on the wall opposite the door, waiting for her to finish changing. He took his phone out and looked at Furbook for a while, before realizing there was someone staring at him from down the hall to his right. The girl was a sheep and she looked at Nick like he was a pile of shit (she didn't look happy to see him). Nick smiled and waved, looking back down at his phone.

  "What are _you_ doing here?" She asked as if she knew him and he had previously killed her pet or something.

  "Well, I _was_ just standing here, but judging from the tone of your voice, I'm guessing you have something you'd like to say to me?" He replied.

  "What're you doing in front of my neighbor's door?"

  "I'm waiting for her to come out."

  "So you can _eat_ her?" The sheep said angrily.

  "Seriously? How many times have you seen a fox _literally_ eat a bunny? Are you _**REALLY**_ that stupid?!" The sheep was really pissing Nick off.

  " _Excuse_ me? Do you know who you're talking to?"

  "Obviously not, and really, that's the part I'm **MOST** pissed about in this situation, so **IF YOU DON'T MIND** , I'd really like to get back to not talking to the smallest-minded animal I've never even met."

  Judy heard the yelling from in the room, and hurriedly put the rest of her clothes on. She opened the door, seeing Nick standing there, being yelled at by her neighbor, Linda.

  "Nick, what happened?" Linda jumped at Judy's voice.

  "Your neighbor here is a specist," Nick replied.

  "Linda, get out of here! Nick was waiting for me to get changed so we could go for a walk."

  Linda quickly ran past them and into the door of her apartment, clearly embarrassed.

  "I'm really sorry about her, Nick, I know you don't like-"

  "It doesn't matter, Carrots, let's just go for a walk," He said as he walked to the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're not part of the Undertale fandom, you don't get the joke.
> 
> Sorry this chapter is so short, I'm really tired again and I just wasn't in a writing mood. I didn't have any ideas for this chapter, so I just did the best I could, sorry. I'm too tired for these notes :c


	9. Wilde Times...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy accidentally reminds Nick of darker days.

* * *

**8:25 PM, Judy's apartment**

* * *

   During their walk, Judy had remembered that she had to go shopping, she was running out of food. So instead of hanging out with Nick, like she'd much rather do, she had to go to the store. She had gotten what she needed, plus a few other things including fox perfume (for no reason, of course) that smelled like blueberries. She had just gotten home, where she was now getting ready for bed in her carrot print underwear (she liked sleeping in her underwear). She was sitting up on the edge of her bed, finishing her conversation with Nick.

* * *

 **JUDY-** Good night, Nick. Try to be a little bit before right on time tomorrow, you know the Chief hates seeing you walk in while he's giving us our assignments.

 **NICK-** Hey, it's not my fault he likes being half a minute early. Maybe he should be there on time instead of early.

 **JUDY-** Just try. Good night.

 **NICK-** G'night, Carrots.

_**-Nick is offline-** _

* * *

   Judy smiled at the nickname. At first, she hated the nicknames, but now if he didn't use a nickname with her, she'd think something was wrong with him. It felt natural to her. She thought to herself for a moment. 'Nick doesn't have a nickname, does he...?' Judy set the alarm on her phone for 4:00 AM and set it on her windowsill. As she lied back on her pillow, she thought of giving him a nickname and eventually fell asleep thinking of them.

* * *

**4:34 AM, the next day, Judy's apartment**

* * *

   Judy just finished getting ready for work. She had thought of a perfect nickname for Nick, and couldn't wait to see the look on his face when she told him. She finished her morning coffee and headed down to the precinct.

* * *

**4:55 AM, outside the precinct**

* * *

   Nick liked to walk to the precinct (since he didn't have a car, but he also enjoyed it) and get rides home. He was outside the precinct waiting for Judy, since she wanted him to be early and knew she was always early, so he would walk in with her. He saw her car pull up and watched as she got out and hopped towards him.

  "Hey, you look happy about something, Carrots," he greeted.

  "Yeah... I'll tell you after we get our assignments," she promised.

  They walked in together and went to Clawhauser.

  "Oh, hey _you_! Oh, Nick's here, too! That's a new one, Nick, getting here early. You know, Bogo hates it when you get here right on time, says it's because it's like you're pushing your luck," he said.

  "Hey Clawhauser. Judy told me about that. She was also the one who told me I should come in earlier," Nick responded.

  "Yeah, well I don't want you to lose your job only 1 month in. C'mon, lets go to the bullpen, before we're on time," Judy urged.

  "Alright, Carrots. See you later, Clawhauser."

  "Bye, you two!" he called.

* * *

**5:12 AM, on the streets**

* * *

   "So, what's got you so excited?" asked Nick.

  "I've made a nickname for you!" Judy happily exclaimed.

  "Well? Let's here it."

  "Alright, here it is...: ' _Wilde Times_.' "

  Nick sat in his seat, eyes wide, staring at Judy.

  "Well? What do you think? ...Nick?"

  "I don't think I should get a nickname. It suits you much better," he quickly responded, facing away from Judy.

  "Nick? What's wrong? You don't like it?"

  "No, it reminds me of me when I was younger."

  "Why?"

  Nick stayed silent for a couple of seconds.

  "Because, 10 years ago, Zootopia was a very different place. Nothing like what you must've thought of it when you wanted to come here."

  "What do you mean, different?"

  Nick was silent for a couple more seconds.

  "Shock collars."

  Judy hit the brakes, _hard_. It was a good thing they were an a relatively empty street, or it would've caused an accident.

  " _ **WHAT?!**_ " she exclaimed.

  "When I turned 20, they stopped making predators wear them, but since I was 9 until then, I had worn a shock collar. It was a year after I had tried becoming a cub scout when they started."

  "N-Nick, why have I never heard of this?"

  "They didn't want anyone to know, I guess they had come to their senses and realized it was a horrible thing to do."

  "What does 'Wilde Times' have to do with it?"

  Nick stopped for a second, breathing deeply.

  "When I was 12, my father... died... from the shocks... When I was 17, I made a place where predators could go and not have to worry about the collars. One of my friends found out a way to get them off, and we exploited it to create a safe place for predators. It was sort of like a theme park. I called it "Wilde Times." It was extremely illegal to not have a collar if you were a predator, so I was committing a crime, along with everyone who had gone."

  "Oh, Nick, I'm so sorry..."

  "It doesn't matter much to me anymore, but the damage is done, and you shouldn't feel sorry since it wasn't your fault. And besides, I've gotten over it mostly."

  "I can't believe I haven't heard of this. This seems like something that everyone should've known about."

  "Oh well, at least it will never happen again. Let's keep going, we're in the middle of the street."

* * *

**3:45 PM, on the streets**

* * *

   Not much had happened, but they did manage to stop a speeder and give out a few parking tickets. Nick was driving now, since they took turns every 2 hours. Judy wasn't paying attention much, she was writing her report so she didn't have to when they got back. Nick had done the same thing while she was driving. Nick pulled the car over and took the key out. Judy looked up. They were in a run down area of the town, far behind the city's center. It was obvious no one lived here.

  "Nick, where are we?" Judy asked.

  "Come on, I'll show you," Nick replied while getting out of the car.

  Judy got out and followed him. They came up to an alley with a concrete arch over the entrance. The arch had some graffiti over it, and it read something like ' _W1lD3T1M35_." To Judy, it looked like a really long licence plate number, a nightmare to bring to the DMV. Judy read it a couple more times, slowly realizing what it really meant.

  "Wilde Times... Nick, what are we doing here?"

  "I thought you should see this. Come on!" He said as he proceeded into the dark alley. Judy reluctantly followed, glad the alley was relatively clean. As they emerged on the other side, Judy's jaw dropped. It felt as if she stepped out into another world. It was an amusement park, alright, but it was definitely not in working order. There was a group of animals very far away, talking to each other quietly. They were too far away to notice the two newcomers. Nick walked over to the right, over to a large crate, full to the brim with strips of leather and metal. Judy went over to the crate and looked in, picking one of the strips out. It was a leather strap with short metal sticks coming out on the inside, and there was a large metal square on the outside with 2 lights, one black, one blinking red. She tossed it back into the crate, and it made a sound like one of her father's fox tasers and flashed like a flashbang grenade.

  " _Jesus_ , Nick. You wore one of these for... _11 years_?"

  "Yup. Sorry for bringing you here, it seemed like you'd like to see it for yourself."

  "It's okay, let's just... get out of here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry about not posting ANYTHING yesterday. I watched Captain America:Civil War yesterday, it was awesome and I completely forgot to write another chapter. I'm actually thinking of making Saturday a free day, though, and if I do, you'll see it on the schedule at the current end of the story. Anyways, I had been reading about early Zootopia and found out about the whole shock collar thing, and I wanted it to be an actual thing, so I tried to make it sound like it actually happened in the movie, off screen. I'd like to hear about how I did, so constructive criticism is, as always, appreciated. Also, one more thing: while writing the "Stupid Linda" chapter, I had originally planned for Gideon Gray to make an appearance. I'd like to know if you guys want to see him in the next chapter or near future. As always, I'll be taking suggestions for what to do with the next chapter (I'll be looking for things like 'you should do a ----- chapter next' or 'pls do an ------ chapter, i really want to see ---- do ----') Thanks for all the support, you guys are awesome. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	10. Sleepover...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick invites Judy over for a sleepover, but Judy forgets one VERY important detail.

* * *

**4:30, precinct, after finishing their route**

* * *

  Nick and Judy had just finished a conversation with Clawhauser, Judy realizing he had probably worn a shock collar for those 11 years. They were just now entering their office, getting ready to finish their reports. Nick sat at the couch behind the desk, with Judy at the desk herself. Judy looked over to Nick, looking down at his paper. _Wow, his handwriting is amazing..._  she thought, looking back at her own paper. _Mine's terrible..._ It was, since she was naturally skittish, her handwriting was sharp and quick, making complex angles in every letter. His natural smoothness showed in his handwriting, making every letter rounded out. Judy ignored her thoughts and got back to writing. She hadn't written anything about their time at the abandoned park.

 "So... Nick," Judy broke the silence.

  "Yup?" He simply replied.

  "That park-" she began.

  "We can forget that ever happened. You didn't need to see that," He cut in.

  "Oh, OK..."

  "So, whiskers, what are you going to be doing tonight?"

  "' _Whiskers?'_ You can't be serious. You have whiskers, too."

  "Alright, alright. I'll stick with _Carrots_. So? What are you planning on doing tonight?" Judy thought for a moment.

  "Nothing, I guess I was just gonna sleep."

  "You wanna come over for a movie? You can sleep over, if you bring a change of clothes for tomorrow."

  "But we have work tomorrow."

  "So? Just because you sleep at someone else's house, doesn't mean you can't wake up at the same time. C'mon, It'll be fun," he said with a wink. Judy blushed, thinking of what he meant by 'fun'. Nick flashed her a smile, and she saw his teeth, blushing even harder. She swallowed hard and looked into his eyes.

  "Sure, sounds like f-fun."

  "Cool. Are you finished with your report yet?" Judy looked down at her report. She still had maybe one or two sentences to finish.

  "Almost..." She felt like she was forgetting something, but it didn't occur to her, so she shrugged it off. She'd remember in the morning.

  Once she finished her report, she and Nick left the office and put them in the 'reports' box on the front desk.

* * *

**5:34, Nick's house, after Judy's apartment**

* * *

   As Judy entered Nick's house, she inhaled his smell, like blueberries and... Spring... She thought back to what she was missing, but still couldn't seem to recall. She looked at Nick, already sitting on the couch, starting a comedy movie. He had already changed into his pajamas without his shirt. Judy stared at his chest for a small bit, blushing like crazy, before turning and entering his bathroom, where she got completely naked and put on her pajamas, a massive t-shirt, 2 sizes too big, and her own pair of loose sleep bottoms (patterned with blueberries, of course). She sprayed her neck lightly with her blueberry perfume, before putting everything back in the gym bag she had brought with her, the word 'SPRING' printed in big bright letters. She thought back to what she was forgetting, now realizing _Spring_ had something to do with it. She still couldn't remember, so she just ignored it.

  She left the bathroom and put her stuff at the foot of Nick's bed, which she needed to cross only the living room to get to. She retraced her steps back to the living room, where the movie Nick had picked out only now started playing. As she sat next to him, he looked at her, sniffing the air. 

  "Are you wearing... perfume?" He asked curiously.

  "Uh, yeah... It's blueberry scented. I knew you liked blueberries, so..." She said.

  "You know, I just now realized your pants..." he said slowly.

  "Oh, yeah, um... well, these were a present from... Clawhauser..." Nick thought for a moment. He smelled blueberries on her, yes, but... something was off about her scent. It smelled like... _flowers_... what did you call them? Honeysuckle? Something like that. But the scent made his chest burn and his brain tingle.

  "Are you wearing another type of perfume, besides blueberries?" he asked.

  "Uh, no... do I smell weird?" She responded.

  "No, no..." Nick lied. That proved it. She was on her... _-ahem-_   **_cycle_**. He hoped that he was wrong (But he somewhat hoped he wasn't). He could smell her heat since they had gotten back to the precinct.

  Judy felt weird, she felt her heart pounding, and thinking about Nick beside her made it faster. Her face was red and her legs felt like raw meat. She was sitting criss-cross, and she felt heat emanating from her opening. She put her legs down to scoot closer to Nick, grabbing his paw in her own. She thought hard for a moment, about how she was feeling, spring, she thought it was hot in here, heat, heat, that was it, that's what she was forgetting! She was in heat. She was in heat? She was... in... _heat..._ Oh. Oh  no.

  "Oh no... I didn't remember..." she said scooting away from him. "I- I'm in h-h-heat... Oh my gosh, Nick, I'm so sorry, I should go..." she said as she went to get up. Nick reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her completely. Judy jumped at the sudden pressure from his paw, before looking at him in the eyes. They were half shut, looking at her eyes. She looked at his face, he had a grin, but it looked sinister. Judy knew what he was thinking, but before she could protest, she was pulled down onto him, legs bent at his sides, muzzles pressed together.

  Nick felt her heat on his pelvis, making him hot himself. He broke the kiss, looking her in the eyes with as comforting an expression as he could manage.

   "It's alright, Judy. _Here,_ let me help you feel better," he said, repeating her words from before. Suddenly, Judy was under him, back against the couch. He pressed his lips back onto hers, and she returned the kiss, heating up even more. She curled her legs over him, wrapping around his lower back. She pushed her tongue deep into his muzzle, feeling his teeth against her sensitive flesh. She tightened her legs, pulling his now erect member against her opening. She whimpered as he ground his shaft against her, the loose cotton of their pants barely doing anything to shield their genitals from one another.

  " _Nick... mhn_ ," she moaned out into his mouth. He broke the kiss, holding the side of her head with one paw.

  "I wonder if you _taste_ like blueberries, too..." he grunted harshly, before going down onto her neck once again, now biting her collarbone.

  " _Ahn- oh, **Nick**... ahhh..._ " she moaned again as he ground against her pelvis. She pushed his head away for a second, lifting her shirt away and throwing it across the room. She grabbed his head again, pushing his muzzle back onto her collarbone.

  "Mhn, oh Nick... harder... harder please..." Naturally Nick thought she meant the grinding, but he was surprised when she grabbed the back of his head and pushed it against her chest. She was pushing so his teeth sank into her skin just between her breasts.

  " _ **AHHHmn**_ _ohhh... yesss there... mmmnh_ ," she yelped loudly. Nick was starting to worry, this was really pushing it, he was about to draw... _blood_... he tasted it. He pulled away from her chest, only now getting a good look at her naked stomach and breasts. She looked... perfect. He didn't even know how to describe it. But, he saw where he had stuck his teeth into her, just between her breasts. She was bleeding.

  "Oh, jeez, Judy, you made me bite you too hard..." he said as he brushed the spot. Judy hadn't come down yet, and she wasn't planning on doing so.

  "It's alright, I'm fine. It feels too good, _don't stop!_ " She mumbled, pushing his muzzle back onto her, now against her breast. Nick shrugged. She didn't want him to stop, and he was already here, so...

  " _ **AAAAAAH** OH F-fuck- Oh **Nick** , yessss, ooh gosh... Right there-AHH-Hard-Harder..._" she shouted as he pressed his tooth against her tip. He tested what made her go off, first just licking, then sucking and finally, biting. It seemed biting got her the best, so he decided to keep it up, moving to the opposite breast to bite. As she moaned louder, he worked his way down her side, biting her all the way down to her hip, moving in to the center. He teased her upper-pelvis with his tongue, pulling the front of her pants down slightly.

  Judy hooked her thumbs into her pants loosely, bending her legs under him so she could take off her pants for him. She was now completely naked, with his muzzle just above her opening.

  Nick smelled her heat, a thousand times stronger here. He moved down, biting her inner thigh, looking at his next target. She was incredibly wet, her opening was so hot he could feel the heat on his face.

  "Nick, _please_... go down on me. I want to feel you _inside_ me..." she gasped out, trying to catch her breath. He took her invitation, pressing his muzzle into her slit.

  " _ **OOOH FUUUCK, NICK~! AHHHHHHH-HARDER-PLEASE, GO HARDERRR~**_ " she moaned loudly. Nick loosened his jaw, putting the top of his muzzle onto her pelvis as he pushed his tongue deeper into her. He held her legs up and apart, opening her wider for his tongue to go deeper.

  " **AAAAAAAAAH~** " she screamed, as her juices flowed out and onto Nick's muzzle. " _Ahhhh, oh~... Nick..._ " she breathed, pulling his head up to her face. She kissed him, tasting her own juices from his mouth, as she hooked her thumbs into the rim of his pants. As she pulled them down, she felt his member fall out of his pants and press against her stomach, making her breath hitch and her heart stop. Nick was rock-hard, and Judy was ready for him.

  She pulled his face away from hers, looking into his eyes.

  "I want you to fill me, Nick."

  Nick went crazy, mashing his muzzle into hers, taking her tongue in his mouth and biting it. He guided his erect penis against her folds, feeling the juices from her orgasm helping his cock slide into her. They stayed still for what seemed like forever, Judy moaning as Nick slowly pushed himself deeper into her. 1 inch, 2 inches, 3 inches, stop. Here was her virgin wall, and Nick was about to break it. He pulled away from the kiss.

  "Are you sure about this, Judy? It's going to hurt for a bit."

  "Yes, _please_ , Nick... fill my bunny burrow..."

  Nick was a it taken aback from her saying that, but he quickly realized how absolutely hot it was, coming from her. He jumped back into the kiss, pushing into her, breaking past her virginity and filling her hole the rest of the way. He struck her with his knot, feeling her cervix against the tip of his cock.

  " _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH, NICK~!**_ " she screamed, wrapping her legs around him tightly, pulling him deeper into her.

  She orgasmed again, tightening around his cock. This was Nick's first time, so, being EXTREMELY sensitive, came on the spot.

  " ** _NNNGGGHhhh, Judy!_** " he grunted, filling her with his semen. He started thrusting, pushing the tip of his cock into her cervix, widening her hole even more and pumping his seed directly into her.

  " _ **NICK~! DEEPER, NICK~!**_ _I want you to fill me!_ " She yelled.

  Soon, he stopped cumming, and they settled down. His knot was buried in her walls, so they had to wait for the swell to go down. As they settled down, Nick wrapped his arms around her, picking her up. She kept her legs clamped around his waist. He one-handed turned the TV off, bringing her to his room and lying down on the bed with her on top of him, still inside her.

  "I love you, Nick."

  "I love you, too, Judy."

  "Hey Nick."

  "What's up?"

  "Thanks for helping me with the heat."

  "I'd do anything to make you feel better, Carrots."

  "Thanks, Nick."

  They fell asleep like this, with Nick's member buried in Judy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cuts to me violently covering my face with my hand, as my other hand gives you chapter*
> 
> YUP. The first smut chapter. I'm noticing you guys aren't giving me any suggestions on what to do next, so I'll take matters into my own hands (now with SMUT!). If this feels rushed, just let me know, I am extremely open to suggestions.
> 
> Thanks for all the support, love you guys. Hope you enjoyed the lemons.


	11. A New Assignment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two find their first important case officially together.

* * *

**4:30 AM, Nick's house, next morning**

* * *

  Judy's eyes cracked open, quickly adjusting to the morning light. She wasn't used to waking up to the sun streaming in through the windows, since her apartment faced away from the sunrise. There was something nice about having the sun warm your face up in the morning. She reached out to touch the snooze button of Nick's alarm, leaning away for a brief moment before returning to the warm embrace they had been sharing in their sleep.

  Nick had opened his eyes at her moving away to the alarm, and now he was looking into her eyes, pressing his muzzle against hers.

  "G'morning, Hopps," he mumbled through a smile.

  "Good morning," she replied simply.

  "So, uh... Sorry, about... last night."

  "Why's that?"

  "I just feel like, I don't know... I feel like I might have taken advantage of you. You were in a really fragile state, and I-"

  "It's alright Nick," she interrupted, "I knew it would happen eventually between us, and I was sort of hoping it would soon. I've really liked you for a while, and... well, really, it could've happened sooner and I would've felt the same way about it. I'm glad it happened," she stated, hugging him tighter. Nick was relieved she was okay with it, but he was still uncomfortable about something.

  "Was I... any good?" he asked slowly.

  " _Pfft-_ Nick, you made me cum twice. I'd say that's pretty good," she said, giggling.

  "Alright, just making sure."

  "Had you done it before? Sex, I mean."

  "No." Judy was surprised by this. Nick seemed to her like the guy who would have sex constantly. But here he was, telling her she was his first. She liked the fact that she was his first, but she hadn't expected to be.

  "What? Nick, you've never had sex before me?"

  "No. Didn't I already tell you I've never dated before?"

  "Well, yeah, but..." She was about to say you didn't need to be in a relationship to have sex, but she thought against it because it sounded bad. "I don't know. I guess I just expected you to be the guy to get lots of girls in bed with him."

  "Well, I've got you in bed, don't I?"

  "I guess so."

  "Well then, that's that. You're the only girl I need in my bed."

  "Aw, Nick."

  "Well, I guess we should get, um, ready for work, y'know," Nick said, nervously looking away.

* * *

**4:00 AM, Nick's house, the next day**

* * *

  Nick hit the snooze on his alarm, already missing waking up beside Judy. The day before had been pretty messy, someone had forgotten to take something out of somewhere and something happened that made something go wrong, and they had to stay at the precinct and file paperwork all day. But it was okay, since he had been with Judy, and they chatted and joked the whole day, getting a surprising amount of work done. Nick stared at the clock, he knew something was wrong, he just couldn't pin it. He realized his alarm went off half an hour early. _That dumb bunny,_  he thought to himself.

* * *

**5:05 AM, retrieving assignments for the day**

* * *

  "Wilde and Hopps, come see me after briefing. I have a special assignment for you two," Bogo stated. Nick looked at Judy. _This is new,_  he thought.

  Bogo finished giving everyone their assignments for the day, getting up to go to his office. Nick and Judy followed behind. As Bogo took the chair behind his desk, they sat quietly in the two seats facing him.

  "So, what's this about, Chief?" Judy asked.

  "An important assignment. There's been reports of animals going feral around certain areas of Sahara Square and the Rain forest District-" their eyes widened in surprise- "and the accounts are spreading towards the city. we're afraid that already 3 of animals in the city have gone feral, and it isn't slowing down. We've gotten 46 feral animals accounted for, and as far as we know, that's all of them so far. We'd like you two to go to this location-" he pointed at a spot in the Rain forest District close to Sahara Square's border- "and find the supply of Nighthowler. We've found that this is an entirely new strain of the Nighthowler serum, and so far, it doesn't have a cure, so you'll have to bring back a sample of the drug so that we may use it to find one. You'll find your report with Clawhauser." He dismissed them, shutting the door behind them quickly.

  "So, we're involved in another Nighthowler case," Nick told Judy as they walked to the front desk.

  "It seems like it. But at least we know now that it's caused by a drug rather than an irreversible genetic issue," she stated happily.

  "You seem excited."

  "I am! This is my second serious assignment, and I've got it with you."

  As they approached the front desk, Clawhauser's face lit up.

  " _Hey,_ you two! How's things been outside the precinct?" he said excitedly.

  "Hey Clawhauser, it's been good. Where is the report?" Nick asked.

  "Ooh, here you go," he said, grabbing a folder from beneath the desk and passing it to the two.

  "Great, thanks buddy. Talk to you later," Nick said as he walked toward the office and Judy followed.

* * *

**5:34 AM, in the office**

* * *

  "Welp, I've got nothing," Nick stated. They had been studying the report for almost half an hour, reading through the names and addresses of the animals gone feral. Nothing gave them a solid address or a lead of any kind, so they would have to go up to the area Bogo had mentioned and scope the place out.

  "Yeah, none of this is very helpful. the only thing we've got is a general location, so we'll have to look around."

  "Alright, then. What say we go now, maybe this could be easy." Nick said hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys, I'm so sorry about the past two days. I've been sick, and honestly I just didn't feel like making anything those days. But I'm feeling better now, and I have maybe the next two chapters planned out, and they're gonna be GOOD (some real angsty shit coming up). Trust me.  
> (Yeah, I know. Not the best way to end a chapter, but give me a break. I was tired!)
> 
> Hope you liked the chapter, you guys have been great to me this whole time and I'm really grateful for all the support you guys have left in the comments. Thanks, guys.


	12. Blurred Vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy and Nick get a little more evidence to the case, leading to a stakeout.

* * *

**8:49 PM, Nick's house**

* * *

  _This is not going to be easy_ , Nick thought. They had spent the entire day at the Rain Forest District, working on the case and getting absolutely nowhere. Nick had just peeled off his damp police wear, stepping into the shower to bathe his cold skin away. He had assumed that it'd be easy or at least predictable in some way, but not one person in any family surrounding the area knew a whole lot about anyone else, since they didn't have a whole lot of places to go on account of all the rain, and all of the people in Sahara Square they asked questions had nothing to say and were all quite rude.

  Nick finished rubbing the soreness out of his muscles and joints, shutting the water off and grabbing the towel off the rack near the shower. He roughly dragged the towel across his entire body, drying his fur and scratching all the itches he had that day. He was amazed a place so wet could be home for so many mosquitoes. He lazily dragged a clean pair of underwear on before joining Judy in bed. Judy had asked to sleep over once they got out of the precinct, and Nick was more than happy to snuggle close to his fluffy companion. As he exited the bathroom, he saw Judy sitting up in the bed, facing away. She looked a bit different though. Nick quickly snatched his I-Panda phone and opened it to the camera app.

  "Hey, fluff..." he called lightly, pressing the record button. Judy turned, squinted and promptly dove face first into the floor of Nick's bedroom.

  "NICK! Put that away, right now!" she called angrily, but not without failing to stifle her giggling.

  "Oh, well.. I'm not sure Carrots, I think I may wanna remember this," he replied, "how about you stand up and show your _fox man_ his _fun-bun's_ favorite shirt?"

  Judy hesitated, but she peered over the bed, glaring smiling daggers at Nick. "Nick, c'mon, this is so embarrassing..."

  "Oh, come now, Hopps. I've seen you in overalls, this can't be any worse."

  Judy hesitated once more, before raising up with a huge blush, showing off Nick's green button-down hanging well off her hips, sleeves unrolled and buttons only halfway up.

  Nick's eyes widened. _Holy shit she's actually really cute hot damn..._  He thought with a blush. He smirked and cocked an eyebrow.

  "It looks like your shirt is a couple sizes too big there, Judes," he said with a smug tone.

  "C'mon, let's just go to bed already, I've had an extremely long day and I know you did too," she said, climbing back in bed and peeling the shirt off, revealing her underwear. Nick walked over to the bed, getting in himself, before turning the lamp off and pulling Judy into a cuddle.

  "G'night, Carrots."

  "Good night, Nick."

* * *

**3:44 PM, two days later, Rain Forest District, stakeout near the border of Zootopia**

* * *

  Nick looked at the dimming sky past the city below. The view of Zootopia from the Rain Forest District was amazing. They had spent roughly 6 hours in a stakeout, and now Nick was getting tired, and they were both very stressed. He looked over at Judy, who was writing something in her report, probably something like:  _3:40, no sign of criminal. Will keep watching._ Absolutely  nothing happened. Yesterday, someone told them that they were absolutely certain that this guy they knew was doing the drugging. The description was that he was a medium-sized animal, brown fur, looked like either a dog or an otter, and he almost always wore a massive trench coat with a gun in a suitcase. The man was absolutely sure it was a gun, he had seen the person pull it out and fire it at civilians before sprinting away. That was all the evidence Nick and Judy needed.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Nick saw him. a mammal, almost a foot taller than he was, (definitely a dog) holding a briefcase that looked a bit bare. He slowly slunk over to the edge of the cliff they were parked on, overlooking the city. He was about 50 yards away. Nick could barely make out the brown fur and trench coat. Suddenly the man was on his knee, opening the suitcase. 

  "Judy, look," Nick said, pointing at the man. He pulled something like a calculator out of the briefcase, but from this distance, it was hard to tell. What was not hard to spot, however, was the massive sniper rifle he pulled out with it, which he had quickly assembled a second before. He loaded it with something as Nick got out of the car and skirted the bushes on the edge of the cliff, making his way towards the man slowly. Judy stayed in the car, watching Nick through short-range binoculars. Nick stayed as close to the brush as possible as he moved towards the animal. He took aim, looking through the sight of his gun. Nick took this as a chance to speed up a bit. he was now 10 yards away, practically in the bush. The dog's ear twitched, and he breathed in. Nick started a sprint towards him hoping he wouldn't take the shot, startling the man. He jumped up out of a crouching position and started running away.

  "STOP! ZPD!" Nick yelled after the man. But the man didn't stop, instead switching the clip of the gun as if it had been empty. Suddenly, the man jumped in the air with the rifle at his side, spun around, and shot at Nick, landed facing away, and started running again. Nick  slowed down, and he lost balance on absolutely nothing as he fell flat on his face. He turned so that his back was on the ground, and choked a sigh of defeat.

  "God DAMNI- _HHHUUGH_ -" Nick moaned in pain. He lifted his arm off his chest, looking down at himself. 

  "Oh, oh guh... oh shit..." he breathed. He had a massive hole in his chest, just to the right of his sternum. He was losing an insane amount of blood, and as he ripped the front of his shirt open with one arm, he tore cloth from it to cover the wound. He couldn't feel the right side of his chest and it hurt to breathe. He coughed up blood and tried to move his right arm, but couldn't. He coughed again, this time choking on blood and spewed more blood onto his muzzle.

  "J-Juh... Judy... where... where are... where'd you go... Judy- _ **cough** _ \- Jud... Judy... Judy..." He mumbled over and over. He tried lifting his right arm again, but it didn't even twitch. As Nick lay there, slowly dying of blood loss, his only thought was _Where's Judy?_ His head lolled to the side, and his body washed over with some kind of warmth as his vision blurred. He heard Judy's voice, and he strained to hear her clearly, but he couldn't. He closed his eyes and opened them again, and now there were bright lights dancing in his vision. He tried to move his head, but it was like trying to move his arm.

  "Judy... Judy... Where... Wh... Where are you... Judy..." He mumbled again, finally barely seeing her in his peripheral view. She lifted his head up, but for Nick, it just looked like the light shifted, and he couldn't feel her paw on his face. 

  "J-Judy... Judy, is that... is that you... Judy... Ju... Judy..." he mumbled.

  "N-Nick... Oh my god... _Nick..._ " He barely heard her whisper. The sound of ambulances filled his ears after that. He looked at her in the face, but couldn't make any features out except the violet of her eyes. He raised his left arm up to brush his paw down the side of her face before his head lolled once more to the side and his arm slammed to the ground next to him. His vision went from the blurry pink sunset to blackness, and he was gone. 

 _**It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,** _  
_**Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt,** _  
_**It lies behind stars and under hills,** _  
_**And empty holes it fills,** _  
_**It comes first and follows after,** _  
_**Ends life, kills laughter.** _

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna be honest, this went from filler to one of the parts I was most excited about real quick. I'm posting this on Tuesday because I hadn't posted anything the day before. And I'm pretty sure this chapter is sort of low-quality compared to the others, I was just really stressed out so sorry. And don't worry, will go back to smut in future (wink wink).
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed and are excited for the next chapter.
> 
> (And if you're curious, yes. Nick did just get 360 no-scoped in the chest.)


	13. Phantom Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick's recovery is going well, but there's a bit of a... complication.

* * *

**6:03 AM, 1 week later, hospital**

* * *

  He knew he was awake, but he could barely hear. His eyes felt open, but he couldn't see. He made out only a couple of sentences before passing out:

  "Is Nick going to be ok?" It sounded like it was from Judy, but it also sounded like she was crying.

  "He will be ok, but..." it faded from here, but it came back- "The bone shards from his sternum..." it faded again shortly- "His arm will never work again. We'll actually have to remove it if he is to survive. An infection has already started, and if we don't act now, he'll die."

  Nick's hearing faded, and he was out again.

* * *

**8:34 AM, next morning**

* * *

  Nick was awake again, but his hearing was still a bit blurry. He opened his eyes, but they still weren't working so he just closed them again. He felt he was on a bed, and he heard breathing to his left.

  "H-hello? Who's there...?" His voice sounded awful.

  " _snf-_ N-Nick?" It was Judy. She had been silently crying, sitting on the chair near his bed.

  "Judy? Is that you?"

  "Oh- Oh Nick... you're alive!" He felt her hug his neck, rubbing her face into the bottom of his muzzle.

  "Judy..." he went to move his right arm to wrap around her neck, but something stopped him. He tried moving it again, reaching for it with his other hand-

  **_POMPH_**

  He touched the spot where his upper arm should've been, but his hand connected with the bed instead. He moved his hand onto his shoulder, and-

  _Oh, fuck..._

  His arm had been completely removed from his body, leaving nothing but a lump on his torso. He felt layers of gauze on his side, going across his chest, where he realized they cut him open to get the bullet out. He had a fake lung and a metal plate there, instead, but he didn't know that.

  "Shit, Judy, where's my... where's my _arm?!_ " He asked.

  "Oh Nick, I'm so sorry, they... they had to remove it. Your shoulder was shredded to shit by your chest bones, and it was completely useless. I- I tried to- They couldn't find any other way- oh, _fuck_... _Nick, I'm sorry..._ " she started crying again. Nick raised his left paw up to the side of her face, although he couldn't see her at all. He hooked his paw around the back of her head and pulled her down to him, kissing her. They broke the kiss slowly.

  "It's okay, Judy. Don't cry."

  "But Nick... This... This is terrible..."

  "Yeah, I know. Also, I can't see. Maybe I should mention that."

  Judy shot up with tears in her eyes, a surprised expression on her face which Nick couldn't see.

  "Hold on, I'll- I'll call the nurse." Judy stood up and pressed the button on Nick's bed. A minute later, an otter nurse came in.

  "What's wrong?" she asked.

  "Nick can't see."

  "Oh? Hmm..." the nurse went up to Nick's bed, pointing a small flashlight into his eyes.

  "Nothing seems to be wrong..." she mumbled. She walked over to the phone, dialing a number and speaking a few words into the receiver.

  "DOCTOR WILEY DOWN TO ROOM 565, DOCTOR WILEY TO 565 PLEASE," the hospital's speaker system said. A few moments later, a coyote with dark grey fur came in.

  "Hello, what's the problem?" He sounded a lot like Nick's normal voice.

  "Nick said he can't see," Judy answered. The doctor did the same as the nurse, before walking to the end of the bed and reading the clipboard.

  "Ah, yes... He's lost a lot of blood, and the back of his brain cut the blood off first to allow the rest of his body to use remaining blood. Just so happens the back of the brain is where all the visual stuff is, so his vision should be back once his blood gets pumping. Don't worry about it, we gave him more blood, so he'll be fine."

  The doctor left after saying "get well" and that he was busy with other matters, and the nurse followed him out, leaving Judy and Nick alone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nick's recovery is going great so far, wouldn't you agree?
> 
> Hope you guys liked the 'twist' in this chapter, if you could even call it that. :/
> 
> Anyways, as always, thanks for the support guys. Hope you like this chapter, and hope you're excited for the next chapter!
> 
> (hehe wile e. coyote i'm so clever)


	14. Dusty [REDACTED], the Neighborhood Helper No One Knows

* * *

**7:44 PM, across the street from Nick's house, 1 month later**

* * *

  Dusty **[REDACTED]** , 22, Male Feline. Lives alone, works from home, that's how he wants people to remember him. Has no friends. He thinks they're a burden, that they'll get in the way of his work. He wouldn't do anything illegal, wouldn't even think of doing something illegal. In fact, all he's ever wanted to do is help people. He helps people he doesn't even know with things he shouldn't even know about them (meaning, he helps people with _PERSONAL_ problems). He's tech savvy, incredibly good with technology. He's good at a lot of stuff, and he hates it. He _HATES_ being better than _anyone_ at _anything_. What he wouldn't do to be complete _shit_ at something. But, no. It's one of those things someone would want, and then they'd call it a burden or a curse if they experienced it themselves. He's depressed, but it makes him slightly less depressed when he helps someone. He sees this guy, a fox, with this girl, a bunny, across the street. The man has a prosthetic arm. Dusty makes a better prosthetic arm for him. Simple as that. But when Dusty makes something specifically to be better than something else, he makes it immensely better.

* * *

**10:23 PM, Nick and Judy's house, same night**

* * *

 

  Nick and Judy had gotten home about 3 hours ago and were just finishing a really long show (It was an Anime, Judy loved them) they had been binge watching. Last month, Judy's neighbors put a hole in the wall connecting their houses during one of their fights, convincing Judy to move in with Nick. As the credits rolled, Judy heard a knock at the door. She pushed herself off the couch reluctantly, walking to the door. She opened it but no one was there. She looked to the right and spotted a cat walking away quickly. He seemed suspicious, so she called to him.

  "Hey! Who're you?" She said. The cat jumped, turning around slowly.

  "Uh... I'm uh... the post man?" He responded awkwardly. His voice was a deep monotone and it almost sounded fake.

  "What are... why would the postman knock and leave?" Judy said. She saw the cat's face, now. He had long, black fur, and his eyes were worried, dark green orbs, like Nick's but darker.

  "I uh... I gotta go." When he said this, Judy noticed his mouth didn't move at all.

  "Wait, who-" Judy kicked something lightly. She looked down to see a box, and looked back up to see the cat had dissapeared. She picked the box up and looked at the sticker on the top. It was addresed to "Nick Piberius Wilde." She shut the door after looking around, walking back to the couch where Nick was sitting.

  "Hey, fluff. Who was it?" Nick said.

  "I... Don't know," she responded slowly. She was a bit jarred by the fact that when he spoke, his mouth hadn't moved.

  "Whatcha got there?" Nick asked.

  "Oh, this was left by that guy. It's for you," she said as she handed him the box.

  "Did he tell you it was for me?"

  "No."

  "Then how did you know it was for me?"

  "The sticker."

  "Oh..." Nick said, noticing the sticker. "How did he know my _middle_ name?"

  "I don't know..."

  Nick took his claw and traced along the tape keeping the box shut. The box swung open, revealing... a paper. Nick read it aloud without taking it out of the box.

  "'Take the pill before putting it on... you will pass out, but it will not hurt you.' Hmm..." He lifted the paper, revealing... an arm. But it was like a prosthetic arm, only it didn't look like one. It was made of some sort of white metal and it looked robotic. It was holding a small glass container with a pill inside, but the pill also looked like it had a metal structure inside. It had a blinking red light. The palm of the arm's hand was soft and pillowy, and the places where Nick's pads were on _his_ hand were leather cushions on the _metallic_ hand. In the center of the hand was a metal circle, and it had 3 blinking red lights surrounding a small screen that said " _searching for signal..._ "

  "What should we do...?" Judy said. Nick wasn't one for taking huge risks, but hey, he didn't really expect anything bad out of it. He took the glass container, popped the top and downed the pill.

  "Nick! What the _hell_?!" Judy yelled.

  "What? What's the worst that could happen? If he knew it would make me pass out, then he would obviously know if it would hurt me." Nick suddenly felt a weird sensation in his chest, but it wasn't pain. He saw Judy staring at his bare chest, so he looked down himself.

_Oh shit..._

  There was a blinking red light in the center of his chest. The blinking slowed, turning into a normal red light. Nick felt the sensation again, and the light turned blue. The light grew from the size of an LED to a 3 inch disk of blue light slowly, and the arm in the box beeped loudly, before all of its lights turned blue as well. The little screen on the palm flickered, before reading: "Signal found! Incapacitating host..." and a little loading animation played.

  "Well, what no _uuu **hhh hg**_-' Nick breathed before passing out on the couch.

  "Nick? NICK? Nick, are you OK?" Judy started panicking. She picked up the arm, looking at the screen in the palm. It read: "Host Incapacitated! Reloading system and reanimating Host..." Judy looked at Nick, who opened his eyes and sucked in air.

  "What was THAT?!" He asked. The arm that Judy was holding bent and straightened out in her hands. She dropped it and it landed in the box.

  "Whoa!"

  "Wait a sec..." Nick said. he picked up the arm and it started moving again. "Whoa, I'm controlling it!"

  "What?" Judy said, bewildered. Nick Put the arm down, looking back into the box. There was a mount there, four red straps connecting to a blue cushioned disk that would go on his back, and on the front a blue circle that would go around the new light on his chest. On the right, there was a metal circle with 3 arches coming out of it. He slipped it on, putting the metal circle over the nub on his side. He pressed the arm to the disk and the metal arches snapped closed over the arm. The whole mount tightened to Nick's chest instantly.

  "This is amazing..." Nick said, clearly amazed. He moved the arm open and closed, wiggling his new metallic fingers. "Look at this, Judy! I have an arm again! And it's made of _METAL_!"

  "Nick, this is great! But why didn't the man want us to know him?" She asked.

  "I don't know. I'd like to thank him for this." Nick tapped the circular screen on the hand, and suddenly a cylinder shape shot up out of the hand like a piston, startling him. The cylinder was made of carbon fiber cloth, and he could see through the fabric. There was a thin metal bar in the center of the disk, protruding out of the hand. The cylinder was about 3 inches long, coming off of his hand. The disk at the top expanded somehow, and the screen was no longer a 2 inch circle. It was like the size of a dinner plate, and somehow it didn't feel that heavy for Nick. The two surprised animals looked at the screen, and it was like a full computer monitor. In fact, it was a computer. Nick saw a couple of icons on the screen like icons on a desktop. He touched one of them, titled "Thank You," and it opened an app of a little cartoon image of a smiling black cat with a thumbs-up (which looked pretty weird since he was a cat, because cats were one of the only mammals besides animals like dogs in Zootopia who hadn't evolved much of a thumb yet) rocking back and forth slowly. The app shut off and the icon for it dissipated.

  "Well then, this is... pretty overwhelming." Nick muttered. The screen turned black and shrunk back down to a 2 inch circle before retreating back into the hand and turning blue again. "I think I'm ready for bed," he mumbled tiredly. He yawned, stretching his arm and the new metal arm up. Judy heard a clunk, and she looked up to see the arm had doubled in size, connecting the elbow with a metal rod. It had hit the roof, which was the noise she has heard. Nick looked up too, and his eyes widened.

  "This is really odd," Nick said as the arm shrunk back. "I mean, who would spend so much time and effort and money on something like this, just to give it to someone they didn't know for free?"

  "I don't know..." Judy sighed. "Let's just go to bed. Today has been a really long day and I'm very tired."

  Nick pushed a button he found on the underarm and the arm beeped. He looked at the screen, which said: "Are you sure?" he pressed the screen and it blinked, the arm shuddered lightly, and suddenly it snapped off his shoulder, landing on his lap.

  "Well then, I think you're right, we've had too much excitement for today. Let's sleep."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I NEED HELP. I have a virus that makes it so that my computer won't even open google chrome. Most of the time, I can't access ao3. I have no idea what it is. It's called "Triangulum," and it doesn't show up in my programs and features, so i cant uninstall it. HELP ME :c
> 
> Dusty will be an important OC later in the story.   
> You will probably never learn his last name.
> 
> That's all I can think of for now. Just a couple of notes for today. 'Host Incapacitated!'
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed. Hopefully I'll be able to post tomorrow.


	15. Throwing Simplicity Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dusty does something he's never done before.

* * *

**4:50, Dusty's house**

* * *

  Dusty was drinking a cup of coffee, sitting in his living room using his computer. Technically it was his arm, but he liked calling it something normal. He'd prefer not to call it "browsing the internet on his arm." Dusty had lost all of his limbs and his vocal cords in an explosion as a child, caused by someone he'd like to forget. That was an incredibly blunt way of describing his situation, but that's the best he could do at 5 in the morning.

  Dusty looked out the window, spotting Nick and the girl, which he recently found to be a cop named "Judy," walking to what he presumed their job. He saw Nick was wearing the arm, and he smiled. _Must be easy only losing one arm,_ he thought. _I'm basically half robot at this point._ He looked down at his 'legs,' sighing. He shut down his computer and stood up, replacing his shorts with jeans and putting on his sweater. He downed the rest of his coffee, placing the cup in his sink and leaving his apartment.

* * *

**5:12, the precinct**

* * *

  Dusty had been watching them for about 4 minutes, like he always did when he "helped" someone. He did it to make sure the device didn't break or malfunction. It never did, but since he didn't have anything else to do he decided to make sure it didn't. He was sitting at the 'citizen help waiting area' or whatever. He didn't know what to call it, but there were a bunch of citizens who came here to report something, and this is where they waited. He was getting incredibly bored of this, so he decided to do something he'd never done before. The couple he had helped, Nick and Judy, seemed like special people, like something was going to happen to them that he needed to be there for. He stood up, already uncomfortable, and made his way to the help desk.There sat a large cheetah who seemed way too social for Dusty.

  "Uh... hello. Can I speak to someone here? Someone in particular..." He said nervously.

  "Sure thing, who can I get for ya?" The cheetah exclaimed.

  "A fox... named Nick Wilde? And his partner, Judy Hopps."

  "Oh, Ok!" The cheetah pressed a button on a device and the device beeped loudly.

  "Wilde, Hopps, There's someone here to see you. Is it ok if he comes to your office?" The cheetah let go of the button, and the opposite end of the line could be heard from the device.  
  
  **_"Hehehe- Nick! Stop- someone's here to- Haha! Nick! Stop, there's someone-"_** The cheetah pressed the button again, eyes wide.

  "Uh, guys? Hello? There's someone here for you two."

  **_"Ok, they can come to our office."_**

  "OK, I'll send him up." he let go of the button. "Alright..." the cheetah pointed at the cat and stopped talking.

  "Oh, I'm- My name is Dusty." Dusty said.

  "Alright Dusty, you're gonna want to go to the second floor, take a left and another left. Their office will be on the right, number 216."

  "Thank you." Dusty left the desk, walking up the stairs and going from there to the office. He stopped at the door, unsettled by himself wanting to meet this couple. He had seen them across the street on more than one occasion, and they seemed so... different. Like they were important to something. His hand was ready to knock on the door now, just 1 foot away from the wood. Dusty froze. He started panicking, was he really going to do this? Compromise his solitude, just to help some animals who he didn't know, with probably nothing. He sighed, putting his head down and pushing his arm forward.

**KNOCK KNOCK**

  He practically felt himself throwing his peaceful life down the drain with those two simple noises, coming from his own hand (or what he accepted as his own, anyway). He shoved his hands in his pockets and braced himself.

  He heard voices coming from the other side of the door.

_( Ahn- Nick, he's- he's here, we have to- Mmhn\- N-Nick, wait- Oh~\- )[What is it?](It's them! They're here already.)[Alright, alright.](C'mon, put that thing away!)_ Footsteps.

  The door swung open, Revealing a bunny at the door and a fox behind a desk.

  "Hello, there. What do you need?" The bunny said. He looked up at her, since he was staring straight down. She seemed a bit... _sweaty._

  "Hi, I wanted to meet you two," he said simply.

  Judy's eyes widened at the sight of his face and his lips not moving. "N-Nick! This is the guy who showed up last night!" She exclaimed. Dusty looked at Nick, who was shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

  "Oh, hey. Are you the guy who made this?" Nick said as he held up his right arm.

  "Yes, that's the third one I've made, actually," Dusty responded.

  "Well, come in, sit down. Let's talk! We don't have much to do today, so this is perfect timing! We've wanted to meet you." Judy said happily.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 0.0 What were they doing in there??
> 
>  
> 
> Sorry this chapter was posted so late, guys. Got a late start. But it's an interesting one, so hopefully that makes up for it.


	16. Socializing?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dusty is reluctant to talk to these two, but maybe he doesn't have to be.

* * *

**5:17 AM, the precinct, Nick and Judy's office**

* * *

  Dusty cringed. He knew this would happen. He'd have to talk to them, and they'd give him their number, and he'd end up becoming friends with them. But he wasn't one to be rude, so he accepted the invitation and sat in the chair in front of the desk. Judy sat in the chair next to Nick across from Dusty.

  Judy beamed in her seat. "So what's your name?"

  "D-Dusty..." he answered reluctantly.

  "Alright, well I'm Judy and this is Nick."

  "So, first off," Nick started, "How?" He held up the arm.

  "I'm good with electronics." Dusty responded simply.

  "But you can't just make something and have it come out the first time like this. Have you already made one before this one?" Judy asked. Dusty pulled his arms out of his pockets and rolled up his sleeves.

  Judy's eyes widened. "Oh... Wow." His arms were a transparent carbon fiber mix of metal and reinforced glass. He had melted the mixture himself and casted all the parts by hand. You could see the inner workings of both arms, with lights and moving parts when he moved his fingers. "How... What happened?" She asked.

  Nick noticed this obviously bothered the feline, so he stepped in. "What about your, uh... talking? Your mouth isn't moving."

  Dusty shifted in his seat. He wasn't expecting to get asked a whole bunch of questions. He still couldn't tell why he even decided to interact with these two. "Uh, could we maybe stop talking about me? I like keeping anonymous."

  Judy looked startled. "Oh my goodness! We're so sorry, we didn't, um... realize."

  "It's alright," he responded. " So can you maybe... tell me what happened to your arm?"

  Nick leaned back in his seat. "Oh, sure. But it's a long story. Or, maybe it isn't. I'm not so sure. Want the long or short version?"

  Dusty thought for a moment. If he asked for the short version, he'd be out of there too quickly, and nothing would come of this conversation. Maybe if he asked for the long version, he could help them with something else (and he really likes helping people he doesn't know, so y'know, why not?). "Give me the full story. I've got nothin' better to do."

  Nick leaned back even further. "Alright. So, Judy and I were assigned to a case where people were getting drugged to become wild animals, and that led us to an area in the Rain Forest District..."

* * *

**5:33 AM, Nick and Judy's office**

* * *

  Dusty was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. He was thinking about the case Nick had mentioned, with the drug, 'Night Howlers.' He suddenly remembered someone from the Rain Forest District, someone who had something to do with the herb. "Hey, I think I may be able to help you two with something else."

  Judy leaned forward. "What's that?"

  "I know a guy from the area you two were talking about, and it's a wonder no one's arrested him yet. I'm pretty sure he's your guy. But the way you two explained it, it's not only him with the chemical."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean this guy, the one who shot you, he's probably the leader of a group that drugs the animals."

  "What makes you say that?" Nick asked.

  "Think about it. You two looked for the epicenter of the incidents. But just because there's an epicenter, doesn't mean there's only one. There may be different animals in different locations drugging the mammals around their location."

  Nick and Judy looked at each other. "That would make sense, we did have a lot of trouble finding that one guy," Nick said.

  Judy turned back to Dusty. "Well, where's this one guy located?" She said.

  Dusty gave them the address and the name of the guy.

  "Huh. Deniz Milla. That's a foreign name," Nick said.

  "Yeah, he's Zutch. I think he's from Swedden?" Dusty said. "Anyways, he's really suspicious, I've heard he's a trafficker of sorts, as well."

  Judy was writing down the information on a notepad. "Well, thank you for the information, Dusty, we'll go there right away and-"

  "You're going now?" Dusty cut in.

  "Yes."

  "I'd like to help."

  "I'm glad to hear it, but you can't. This is official police business."

  "He's too dangerous for just you two. I've known him for a while, and I know how this guy works. You won't be able to walk up to his front door without hurting yourselves, or worse. Let me come with you."

  Judy turned to Nick with a worried expression, and Nick just shrugged. "Let the man come, Carrots. Can't do any harm."

  Judy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine. But just make sure you don't get yourself hurt, that could give you a reason to sue us and we could get fired."

  Dusty thought to himself for a second. Then he laughed. It had been a while since he had done that. "Judy, the worst that could happen is I lose a leg, and last time I checked, I don't have one. You have nothing to worry about."

  Judy and Nick both looked at him like he said something weird. "Oh, I forgot. I didn't tell you about the, uhm... Y'know what, I'll tell you guys on the way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, noticed I haven't been getting a lot of comments recently. I miss them :'c
> 
> Any feedback is appreciated, it's reassuring/helpful, so leave a comment telling me how you feel about the chapter or what I'm doing with the story, and if you have any suggestions, those are appreciated, too.
> 
> Also, Swedden isn't a typo. It's a 'play on words' or what have you. Like : Swed-DEN. B'cus they're aminals c:


	17. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick, Judy and Dusty go to the address Dusty provides, and lots of stuff happens.

* * *

**6:43, Rain Forest District**

* * *

  Nick, Judy and Dusty had just gotten to the address and parked the car down the road. Dusty had just finished explaining his situation. He had known where this guy lived because whenever he helps someone he plants a tracker on them to track where they go, so that he could monitor them after helping them. With Nick, he already knew where he lived (across the street), so he put the device in the pill that came with the arm. With this guy, 'Deniz Milla,' he put the tracker on his truck, which he was refilling with a special gas, since Deniz had ran out of gas in front of Dusty's home (and the gas was special because it was more efficient than regular gas).

  While he was monitoring Deniz, he was having a meeting of sorts where they were passing boxes loaded with blue flowers off to him. He stored them in what Dusty guessed was the man's bedroom, since he couldn't tell very well looking through the window, and afterwards the others left. Dusty had researched the flowers and found out what they were called. He explained a couple of things about the arm to Nick, too, like how it was bulletproof and could extend and a couple of other features Nick couldn't imagine needing to use. The way Dusty made it sound, this was a weapon, not an arm.

  "Well, we're here." Nick said. "How should we go about this?"

  Judy thought for a moment. "Well, we know he's dangerous, and he's easily provoked to run and shoot, so we should sneak in, get evidence and sneak out."

  Dusty thought back to his monitoring, when he was eavesdropping on the meeting Deniz was having. "I had monitored him for a few days, and he never locks the window out back. It leads straight into his bedroom."

  Judy and Nick looked at each other for a moment. "Well, I'll never pass up an opportunity to break and enter without breaking," Nick said with a smirk. "C'mon, let's see about that window."

  The three got out of the car, walking towards the house. They spotted 1 car in the driveway, which meant at least 1 person was here. As soon as they got near enough to the house, they slowed their movements, sneaking around the back, searching for the window Dusty described. When they found it, Nick was the first to slide it open carefully and hop inside quietly. Dusty followed behind, followed by Judy. When they continued on, they heard a voice coming from the bedroom's door.

  "... Wat? Hij vond uw voorraad?" A gruff voice came from the opposite side of the door, "Nou neem hem uit! We hebben geen getuigen nodig. ... Kan me niet schelen als je verwant bent met hem, die hij nodig heeft om te gaan. Sorry, jongen, als je wilt om deze shit uit te voeren, die je nodig hebt klaar om iemand te vermoorden te zijn. ... Waar zal je zijn lichaam te zetten? Man, je bent nutteloos." _click_

  Nick turned to the others, with a weird look. "Did you guys get any of that?" He whispered.

  Dusty had a concerned look on his face. "It sounds like one of his buddies was found out. He's telling the other guy to kill the person who found his 'stock,' and he also mentioned something about hiding the body, but it sounded like the other guy was asking about hiding the body. He responded with 'useless' and hung up."

  Judy looked shocked. "You know Zutch?"

  "Of course, I know lots of languages," was all Dusty had to respond with.

  Just then, the door opened, and in stepped the dog that had shot Nick. He was holding a gun in his hand. The three shot up, putting their hands over their heads. "Oh wonderful. Just wonderful. I'm sure I know the reason you three are here, and I can't have you getting away with any evidence, so I hope you'll understand why I have to kill you."

  He brought the gun up, aimed it at Nick, and fired.

  

  **PSHT**  

 

  The first thing the four noticed was that it didn't sound like a normal bullet when it impacted Nick's neck. It was more like someone dropped their glasses on a tiled floor, and one of the lenses shattered. Like a tiny glass object broke into a million pieces. Another thing that Nick noticed himself was that he wasn't immediately dead. The dog took the clip out of the gun, and about 11 small blue marbles fell out of the clip. The four realized what happened, but before anything further happened, the surprised dog fled from the room, slamming the door on his way out. Nick slowly brought his hand up to his neck, brushing the spot the bullet hit him. His paw came back covered in a blue liquid.

  "Oh _shit_. Oh fuck, oh fuck oh fuhhhhck-" Nick's voice slurred before becoming a deep growl.

  "Oh no... Nick!" Was all Judy could think to say. Nick turned on the 2 animals with him, dropping to all fours and lunging for Judy. Dusty thrust his arm out, blocking Nick's path. Nick latched his jaw around Dusty's arm, gnawing at it before letting go and trying to lunge at Judy again. This time Dusty dove into Nick fully, bringing him to the ground. Nick and Dusty were about the same size, with Nick being a bit taller, but Dusty brought him down easily, although he was on the bottom. Nick swiped his good arm's claws at Dusty, slashing his face once all the way across, making a spray of blood cover the carpet near Dusty's face. Dusty didn't make a noise, his mouth didn't even move, but his face contorted in pain. He quickly thrust his hand out, latching onto Nick's shoulder. A small _thunk_  came from his hand, and Nick suddenly passed out. Dusty lowered him to the floor beside him gently.

  "Fuck," Dusty strained. He stood up and looked at Judy. "Well, now what?"

  Judy winced at Dusty's face. There was a large gash spanning from above his right eye to below his left, and it was gushing blood at an alarming rate. Dusty must've noticed the blood, because he went over to the bed, pulling one of the pillowcases off of the pillow, tying it around his head where the gash was, leaving a strip of cloth diagonally down his face.

  "What should we do?" He asked Judy again.

  She brought a plastic vial of pink liquid out of her tool belt. "I have the old Night Howler medicine here, but I'm not sure it works on this new version."

  "Let's just tie his paws behind his back for now, you can give him the medicine and hopefully it works to an extent." Dusty shot up quickly, ears perked up. "Did you hear that?" He said.

  Judy listened closely. "Footsteps."

  Dusty nodded. He went to the door, ready to take down the person behind it. The door shot open, and there was the dog again, this time with a gun that they could only assume had actual bullets in it. He aimed at Dusty and fired, but Dusty's arm swung down before the bullet hit him in the stomach, and the sound of metal against metal filled the room. Before the dog could process what just happened, Dusty brought his arm up, slamming the dog's hand and knocking the gun into the air. His other arm went up, actually extending to twice its size, grabbing the gun out of the air by the chamber. He brought the arm down, slamming the handle of the gun into the top of the canine's head with a **_CRACK_**. The dog crumpled to the ground and Dusty had to dodge the body before it fell on him.

  "Jeez, what slow reflexes," Dusty mentioned. He turned to Judy. "Got any handcuffs?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally here, guys! I'm not feeling too good, but I'm not shitty enough to not write. Hopefully you guys enjoyed. I know it's not really worth the wait, but I'll make it in the next few chapters. 
> 
> Thank you to all the amazing people who supported me throughout the sickness, you guys are awesome. I was really afraid to just leave the story for even 3 days, but you guys were understanding and reassured me it would be OK. I've made somewhat of a recovery, I've been sleeping a little bit earlier than I usually do which probably helped. Thanks again for understanding.
> 
> I'll be putting the translations of every language in the notes from now on in all my fictions (if they need to be translated).
> 
> TRANSLATIONS:
> 
> 1st Dutch:  
> "What? He found your stock? Well just take him out! We don't need any witnesses. ... I don't care if you're related to him, he needs to go. Sorry, boy, if you want to carry this shit out, you'll need to be ready to murder someone. ... Where will you put his body? Man, you're useless."


	18. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The same day of the accident, but later.

* * *

**8:53 AM, at the precinct**

* * *

 

  Judy was carrying Nick bridal-style, since he was very light for his weight. Nick had his arms and legs tied together with a very thick rope. Dusty had Deniz slung over his shoulder, with his paws cuffed behind his back. The two conscious animals had just made it back to the precinct, and were bringing the unconscious bodies to the holding cells of the department. As soon as the cell doors closed, Deniz was slowly waking up, but Nick was still completely out, which worried Judy even more. Dusty and Judy went back to the main part of the precinct, where Dusty sat in the waiting area to wait for Judy to talk to her boss.

As Judy knocked on the door to Bogo's office, she heard a loud bang, silence and then Bogo's voice saying "Come in."

"Hopps. What are you doing here?" Bogo asked.

"Well, Nick and I just got back from a mission. We found the man behind the drugging, but it seems that he wasn't the only one out there with the Night Howlers. We do believe he was the leader of the group though. We have him in the holding cell, and we confirmed he had Night Howlers." She held up an evidence bag containing a bunch of tiny vials filled with blue liquid, which were buried by a bunch of small blue marbles.

"Wonderful, Hopps. Why have you come to my office instead of writing your report, though?"

"I've come to tell you Nick's in one of the holding cells, too," she stated. "He was... infected with Night Howlers, he's gone savage, and I'm not sure if the old antidote worked on him, since he hasn't woken up."

"Why was he under?" Bogo questioned.

"We- I tranquilized him." She said.

"Oh. Well I'm sorry you had to do that to your partner, but you did what had to be done."

"I came to ask about the new strain of Night Howlers. Is there an antidote yet?" Judy asked.

"Well, not quite yet, but the evidence you've brought in will speed up the process. I'm sure it will be done soon. You can take Nick to the hospital, they still have the cells they used to hold savage animals. He'd be better off there." Bogo told her.

"Thank you, Chief. I'll have my report done by tonight."

"Good work, Hopps."

* * *

**9:43 PM, hospital**

* * *

 

The doctors had finished the antidote that night and they used it on Nick, who was now in a normal hospital bed sleeping. Judy had fallen asleep standing near the bed lying down halfway on it. Dusty was there, since he felt he needed to be there, but he left an hour before, giving the two their privacy. He knew they were a thing but he didn't think they were weird. He knew most people would look at the two with disgust, but he thought they were perfect for each other.

Nick stirred, slowly waking up. He looked around himself, seeing Judy to his left. To his right was the metal arm since he wasn't wearing it. He stared at Judy for a while, watching her sleep. _She's so cute,_  he thought.

"Hey. Hey, Judy," he whispered. He put his hand between her ears, rubbing her head gently, just the way he knew she liked it. She didn't move, but she did grumble out a few words. Nick chuckled. He leaned down to her, lifting her head up and planting a kiss on her lips. That seemed to wake her up.  
  
"N-Nick! you're awake!" she exclaimed tiredly.

"G'mornin', Fluff. What happened while I was out?"

"We got the guy. We did it!" She said happily.

Nick looked at her and thought for a moment. He suddenly became worried. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" He asked.

"No, but you scratched Dusty pretty bad right across his face," she responded, dragging her finger along the area Nick had clawed.

"Shit. Where is Dusty?"

Judy looked around the room, realizing Dusty wasn't there anymore. "I guess he left."

* * *

**9:43 PM, same night, Dusty's house**

* * *

 

Dusty had just gotten home after leaving the hospital about an hour ago. He sat down on his couch, leaning forward and placing the application on his coffee table. He filled out the entire paper before signing his name down below, on the line:

Dusty Ambroos

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked the chapter!
> 
> I'm really sorry about all the days of not writing, I got really sick and only recently got better. I'm still not completely healthy, but the headache went away. Thanks to everyone who commented something supportive and to all those who were understanding. You guys were great.


	19. After the Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learned Dusty's last name, Ambroos (which is Dutch for immortal, yes he's part Dutch) and he decides to get an actual job.

* * *

**10:12 PM, 4 months later, Dusty's house**

* * *

 

Dusty had just gotten home from a late night out. He was ready to sleep. The ceremony lasted longer than he thought it would, but he finally graduated the police academy and was accepted into precinct 1, no less. City center. He thought for a moment. He felt like he was trying to remember something, but couldn't quite place it. Oh well. It was probably because he was so tired. He'd remember it tomorrow, most likely.

* * *

**4:30 AM, the next day**

* * *

 

Dusty's alarm blared loudly, waking him immediately. He didn't remember setting the volume that high, nor could he complain, as it had done it's job correctly. He sat upright in his bed, squinting in the early morning light. Winter was practically over, giving way to an early spring, so the mornings were getting longer. He took a shower, got dressed and made a cup of coffee, all before going out the door to go to his new job.

* * *

**4:55 AM, at the precinct**

* * *

 

As Dusty reached for the door, he thought back to last night. He had forgotten something and hadn't remembered what it was yet. As he opened the door, he caught a glimpse of what he had forgotten about out of the corner of his one good eye.

* * *

**4:54 AM, Judy and Nick at the precinct**

* * *

 

Nick and Judy had just gotten to the precinct, and were having a quick conversation with Clawhauser before going to the bullpen. Clawhauser was saying something about Gazelle, and Judy was responding with something about her favorite songs. Nick was thinking to himself. He was remembering something, something that bothered him. He knew what it was but he couldn't place the name. The entrance bell of the precinct sounded, and he looked up to find-

Oh, yeah. Dusty.

Dusty was slowly making his way towards the front desk, noticing Nick staring. Nick nudged Judy, whispering something to her, and Judy turned. Upon seeing Dusty, she smiled and waved, prompting Nick to do so too.

"Hey, Dust," Nick said in greeting.

"Hey, Nick," He responded.

"What are you... doing here?" Judy asked.

"Oh, are you Dusty? Judy, he's the new guy!" Clawhauser stated.

"Oh! I didn't know we were getting a new guy," she said.

Nick looked at Dusty. "Let alone a shut-in! When did you decide to join the force?" He asked.

"Oh, well... after that thing with the case I helped you guys with, it seemed like I'd be good at this sort of thing. It also seemed sort of... fun."

"Well, that's good. Where did you go right after that, though? I never got to say sorry for the whole... scratch thing..." Nick said awkwardly.

"That's alright, dude. I've lost too much for it to really matter anymore. Half my eyesight is practically nothing at this point." Dusty said shrugging his shoulders.

Nick looked closer at his face. The scar was above Dusty's right eye, cutting through it to stop just below the left eye. His right eye was completely grayed out, leaving nothing but a grey circle in the middle of a sea of white.  _Man, that looks bad-ass_ , Nick thought.

* * *

**5:30 AM, in the bullpen**

* * *

 

Dusty got a seat across the isle from Nick and Judy's seat at the front of the room.

"Hopps, Wilde..." Bogo stopped for a second to think, "Ambroos, You three are on patrol."

Dusty looked at Nick and Judy, who looked over as well.

"Well, isn't that lucky?" Dusty said jokingly.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking maybe ending the story next chapter, or maybe at chapter 25. I still really don't want to end it, though D:  
> If I do end it, there will without a doubt be a part 2. I'm not sure when, maybe after Zootopia 2 comes out, but maybe sooner (most likely sooner).  
> What do you guys think?
> 
> Tell me what you think, give me your opinions on where the story should go.


	20. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The End.

* * *

**7:45 PM, in front of Nick and Judy's home**

* * *

 

  The two waved once more towards the black cat crossing the street to his home. Today wasn't too bad, they didn't do any busting which disappointed Judy, but they did have a lot of fun talking to each other. Nick was just glad to be home with Judy. The two entered, Nick locking the door behind them, and went over to the living room. They both sat on the couch, Judy leaning against Nick. He switched on the television, flipping through the channels before stopping on a comedy show. The two watched for a while, before Judy stretched out and yawned.

  "Tired, Fluff?" Nick asked.

  Judy got comfortable again, before replying. "Not enough to get up and go to bed." Nick put his arms around her before sliding down into a lying position, with Judy's tiny body on top of him. Judy turned so she was lying on her stomach facing him. She brought her face down onto his bare chest, using it as a pillow and inhaling his scent while brushing his sides with her paws. "Mmh... you're gonna make me fall asleep on you," she mumbled into his fur.

  Nick smiled. "I wouldn't have a problem with that."

  "Good," came a muffled reply. Judy quickly fell asleep on him, face buried in his chest fur and one arm dangling off the couch.

  Nick chuckled softly. "What an adorable little bunny..." he whispered to himself. He shut off the television, careful not to wake Judy, and slowly got up, lifting her with him. He held her up against his chest, tiptoeing to the bed they shared,placing her softly on the bed. He climbed over her, into the opposite side of the bed, pulling the sheet over them both. As he turned out the lamp near the bed, he felt Judy grab his arm and place it around her hip. She nuzzled herself into him, pressing her back to his chest and her bottom in his lap. As he put his other arm up under his head, he whispered, "Goodnight, Judy."

  "Goodnight, Nick."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not the end of the story. This was the first part of the series. I'm ready to call it quits with this one for now, but rest assured, there will be more police work for these two and their new friend. See you next time!
> 
> Tumblr: hyperdust11.tumblr.com
> 
> My other stories so far: archiveofourown.org/users/HyperDust/works

**Author's Note:**

> I will update the tags when necessary, probably every chapter until everything's covered.
> 
> One big thing about this fanfiction is that I'm writing it without thinking of what's going to happen next, so this will be interesting until I finish planning the future. There will be smut, lemons, and things that will make people squirm, so take this as a warning!


End file.
